MEDICINE & EDUCATION

MEDICINE AND EDUCATION

Depending on the resources available and the individual needs of the patients, HOPE worldwide aims to provide the recipients with personalized medical evaluations and education. Physicians, pediatricians, chiropractors, obstetricians, and/or dentists meet with each patient in order to determine the critical needs and create plans in order to meet those needs through the use of pharmaceutical support and education. HOPE worldwide also utilizes a children's program in order to provide the children of the families with dental hygiene education, fluoride treatments, antiparasitics, educational supplies, and crafts & games.

Programs

Adult MedicineDr. Milton Drake, MD, Massachusetts

THE PROCESS: "In the clinics, we have a triage system set up where volunteers measure vital signs, blood pressure, height, sometimes weight, and also their chief complaint. We don't have a full capacity of x-rays and laboratory testing, so as a result, we want to make sure we don't overstep what would be considered good medicine in our treatments of different ailments.

TREATMENT: "There are a lot of things we can do that have an immediate effect. For example, in children, parasite infection is very common, and it's easy to treat kids with a single dose of medication that will rid them substantially of parasites. If you do that every six months, there's clear evidence showing that those children's weight will increase appropriately, and there's been long-term studies performed by the World Health Organization demonstrating that children receiving parasite treatment consistently have better career opportunities as adults than those who do not.

THE NEEDS: "Other problems we've encountered in Central America, that are unique to this part of the world, is the predominance of H Pylori, it's a bacterial infection in the stomach. It's the major cause of stomach cancer, ulcers, and 80% of people are infected with H Pylori here. So those cases, where the person is having a lot of symptoms of abdominal pain, we can go ahead and treat them. We can also provide the usual medications, vitamins, pain medication, and treatment for diabetes. It's a rice-based diet down here, and, as a result of people tending to have too many carbohydrates in their diet, diabetes and hypertension tend to be very common.

"There's a number of individuals who would have otherwise lost their leg if we were not able to treat them with wound care and antibiotics. Lives have been saved."Dr. Milton Drake, MD

"One other woman today had a blood sugar count of over 400 that she didn't know she had. We were able to stop her medication and set up a plan for bringing her back to the clinic so she could receive care. There's a number of individuals who would have otherwise lost their leg if we were not able to treat them with wound care and antibiotics. Lives have been saved.

"I had one woman today who is diabetic and was hurt very badly. She had stepped on a tin roof and punctured a huge abscess on the base of her foot. She's coming back tomorrow to have that drained and to receive antibiotics so she can hopefully avoid a serious infection.

HIGHLIGHTS: "Today, we saw about 45 patients in the adult medicine at San Antonio, there was one young woman who came in who had a palsy, or paralysis on one side of her face. She was very concerned about it, which is understandable. She has a condition called Bell's Palsy, which an inflammation of her facial nerve, and so she was not able to close here eye entirely, she also had some other face problems, and even just the fact that her face was asymmetrical would be difficult for anybody. Basically what I did was reassure her that it would her better in 6-8 weeks, and in the meantime, to massage her face with twenty movements of the cheek often, so the muscle would not become placid. That was important to her. Even though I didn't do anything, I was able to tell her what to expect.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: "These brigades have helped me to be more compassionate, and also, it has helped me to realize that, as individuals, we're not that important. Being a part of a team and being a part of helping others to help others is one of the biggest things these brigades provide to volunteers. In this work, people have become more outwardly focused. They are more concerned about how they can add value to others. They learn from the people they meet, that although many people may be materially poor, they are often times more wealthy spiritually than others in a first world country, including us. We can learn from them. There's wealth of relationships, wealth of self-esteem, and spiritual wealth. All of those things are shared amongst those who give and receive."

"These brigades have helped me to be more compassionate, and also, it has helped me to realize that, as individuals, we're not that important. Being a part of a team and being a part of helping others to help others is one of the biggest things these brigades provide to volunteers. There's wealth of relationships, wealth of self-esteem, and a spiritual wealth."Dr. Milton Drake, MD

ABOUT DR. STEIN: "Walter called me when the brigades started and said he’d been down in Honduras and saw an incredible need for medical care for children within the church and the area around it, he said there were no pediatricians over there, I know Walter from way back and we have a deep friendship so I said ‘Tell me what you need’ and that was in the fall of 2009 and I believe we did our first brigade in January 2010. The goal was to come meet the needs of the church. The idea was to help the community, but dedicate one full day to the workers from the church and any family or friends they wanted to bring.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: "I believe that we have the resources and talent to meet the needs of our family right now. We just need to tap into those resources. It’s different being down here and talking to people. You see the faith and hope they have. It changes who you are. I think this right here, the work we're doing, is what’s going to be people’s salvation. This is what's going to save people. I know that this is an intricate part of who I need to be in order to stay close to God."

"Water purity is so nonexistent here that parasites are a given, so we started going after particular conditions such as parasites and other skin conditions. We’ve learned to acclimate to the needs of our patients and the culture we’re working in."Dr. Doug Stein, MD

THE NEEDS: "At this point, we have a level of organization that takes time to learn. After being here for a while you become aware of the needs of the community. Water purity is so nonexistent here that parasites are a given, and the kids will touch anything and then put their hands in their mouth. So we started going after particular conditions such as parasites and other skin conditions. We still try to supply Asthma medicine and general things like that, but we've adjusted to what’s actually happening. There's tons of diabetes and high blood pressure in adults and the dental care is frightening, so we offer fluoride treatments for the children now.

EDUCATION: "We try to educate the parents on dental hygiene. I had a woman with her child today and she told me, 'He doesn’t drink milk out of his bottle, only juice', like she was proud of it. I explained to her that the juice was rotting the child's teeth and he shouldn't drink it anymore. She told me, 'But he'll cry without his bottle," and I said, 'Yes, probably for two or three days, but this is important, and he cannot drink juice anymore.' We're trying to educate people, but I can’t tell somebody when it’s 100 degrees outside to go boil water inside their house, so we’ve got to be realistic and sensitive to different cultural things. However, generally, we’ve really learned to acclimate to the needs of our patients and the culture we’re working in.

"I think this right here, the work we're doing, is what’s going to be people’s salvation. This is what's going to save people. I know that this is an intricate part of who I need to be in order to stay close to God." Dr. Doug Stein, MD

VISION: "In the future, I want us to find ways to take care of things I can’t take care of here at the clinics. Today, I saw a 10 year old girl with a huge tumor in her arm, making her arm 4 times the normal side from elbow to shoulder. They don’t have the capacity to take care of this in a good way in the hospitals here, with little to no hygiene, we can’t hope to take care of many issues in a good way. Right now, we don’t have resources or connections, so I hope we can create an interactive base, with technology, between doctors and nurses in Honduras and the church. I want a more extensive network, with more churches and doctors.

"The country of Honduras doesn't have Fluoride in their water, and I've noticed a high consumption of candy, soda, and other sugars and sweets, so a lot of kids and grown-ups experience a rapid decay of their teeth. The dangers of not extracting rotten teeth is that people may have more infections. These things can lead to even worse nutrition because they can't eat food properly."Dr. Daniel Hines, D.D.S.

PROCESS: "On the brigades, I offer dental care in San Antonio, Monte Verde, and Chemelecon, and the church. My process and care varies from patient-to-patient, because we try to serve them on a individual basis. When I see a patient, I do an assessment of what is needed most. In some locations, we didn't have all of the facilities and technology, so we were only able to do instructions, fluoride treatment, and extraction of rotten teeth. At the site in Chamalecon, however, where HOPE worldwide has a fully-equipted dental facilities, we were able to do fillings, extractions, instructions, and fluoride.

Dentistry & Fluoride TreatmentsDr. Daniel Hines, D.D.S., Virginia

ABOUT DR. HINES: "I am a practicing dentist in Washington D.C. and I've been doing dental work for the people here in Honduras. I got involved in the brigades originally through a couple in our church, Greg and Tanya, and several of our church members who came to the brigade a year before my wife and I came on a brigade.

PREPARATION: "The biggest thing we did to prepare was gather a large amount of toothbrushes and toothpaste, so that we can give the children and their families instructions on dental care and also the supplies they need to maintain good dental health. We also try to get the word out and gather clothes and other supplies to donate to the communities here in Honduras. This is my second year coming. Last year, my church raised money through a basketball marathon called Hoops for Hope, and we able to donate over $17,000 to the brigades. We have another fundraiser coming up this November to help contribute to future brigades.

THE NEED: "The country of Honduras doesn't have Fluoride in their water, and I've noticed that there is high consumption of candy, soda, and other sugars and sweets, so a lot of kids and grown-ups experience a rapid decay of their teeth. The dangers of not extracting rotten teeth or not providing dental instructions is that people may have more infections and experience a greater loss of teeth. These things can lead to even worse nutrition because they can't eat food properly. The biggest challenge, currently, is facilities. Some sites do not have all of the dental equipment we need to do the work we know we can do. Another challenge is that we are not here as long as we need to be to solve some of the problems we could otherwise fix. I really want to set up something more permanent for the people of Honduras that need, but can't afford, dental care. Somewhere they could get help on more of a regular basis, more regular than every six months when the brigades occur. This is a great experience, and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to come learn about a new area and help in any way I can."

Children's ProgramTanya, Virginia

THE PROGRAM: "The children’s program is a way to make personal connections with the children when we are at the different sites. Through the course of the weekend we will see approximately 400-500 children. We plan out the program in the states and carry extra luggage to bring all the supplies. We always end up running around in San Pedro Sula for last minute things. When we get to a site we organize the volunteers into different stations so the kids can rotate around. I call it organized chaos! It is so amazing to see these children get excited about the smallest things. For example, we will give them stickers to put on a project and they have never seen them before. Once we show them how to use the stickers they are like pros. The stations have included, reading, games, math games, puppet show, face painting, music, science, crafts, and sports. I love watching the teenage volunteers bonding with their special friend. Some of the regular volunteers are now known by name. The children at the site will look for them when the bus pulls up and call out their name. This is very special to me. I also love that every six months they see our HOPE t-shirts and can’t wait to start their fun day. One little girl wrote in a card that the night before we come she can’t sleep all night because she is so excited!"

"Some of the regular volunteers are now known by name. The children at the site will look for them when the bus pulls up and call out their name. This is very special to me."Tanya Holland, Virginia

For more information on how to sponsor a child of the Monte Verde School (Honduras), click HERE